NEW DELHI: CBI has named former air chief marshall SP Tyagi, along with 10 others and four companies, in a preliminary enquiry related to the AgustaWestland bribery allegations. Tyagi will become the first chief of the Indian Air Force to be questioned in a corruption case.

The first chief of staff to face CBI examination is Admiral Sushil Kumar. A CBI source said the air chief marshall and his three cousins — Sanjeev Tyagi, Sandeep Tyagi and Rajeev Tyagi — will all be examined.

The agency filed the PE a day after an investigation team returned from Italy with mixed success in procuring documents related to the case. The source said the documents prima facie indicated payoffs in the deal and more names could be revealed soon. ACBI statement issued late Monday night did not take names but said middlemen allegedly routed bribes to several Indian nationals through Tunisia and Mauritius.

"It is alleged that in the procurement process of the helicopters, some middlemen have influenced the deal in favour of UK-based company. It is also alleged that Italy based company paid commission in terms of several millions of euros to middle men. The two middlemen from their share of commission allegedly paid huge sums of money to several Indian nationals through Tunisia and Mauritius route in the garb of engineering contracts with two India-based companies. The two middle men are directors in one of India-based private companies in which one private person works as chief operating officer and he allegedly has a role in channelising money for illegal purposes. Further enquiry is continuing," the statement said.

The defence ministry ordered a CBI probe after Italian police arrested Finmeccanica boss Giuseppe Orsi on charges that he paid bribes through middlemen to secure a 2010 sale of helicopters by group company AgustaWestland to the Indian government. MoD issued a show-cause notice to Agusta, asking why the Rs3,600-crore deal should not be cancelled. The PE also names alleged middlemen, Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Christian Michel, Orsi, former Agusta CEO Bruno Spagnolini, Praveen Bakshi, CEO at Chandigarh-based IT company Aeromatrix and advocate Gautam Khaitan, who served as a director in Aeromatrix and helped incorporate it.

The companies named are Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, Aeromatrix and IDS Infotech. Agusta responded to the showcause notice by saying all allegations against its executives in Italian courts was in a pre-trial stage and nothing has been tested in a court of law. In its response, signed by managing director Raymond Edwards, the company has stated while the ministry's notice refers to "certain allegations in general terms", it neither provides sources nor any evidence and consequently the firm's ability to provide a comprehensive response was limited.

The company has denied any violation of the integrity pact on its part. "It is extremely important to note that the Italian investigation referred to is at a preliminary stage... This means that no charge has been brought against Mr G Orsi or Mr B Spagnolini and the allegations have not been tested in court. Further, alleged statements said to be given by certain individuals such as Mr Guido Haschke and Mr Gerosa Carlo to Italian prosecutors are impossible to verify at this stage," the letter says.

It also makes an effort to isolate the specific company that has sold the helicopters to India — Agusta Westland International — from the allegations against Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland in general. "We submit that the allegations set out in the SC notice appear to be based entirely on unsubstantiated news and other media reports... there appears to be no such allegations against AWIL as the seller, which is a separate legal entity," the letter says.